The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Osteospermum plant, botanically known as Osteospermum ecklonis, and hereinafter referred to by the name ‘Spark Orange’.
The new Osteospermum is a naturally-occurring whole plant mutation of the Osteospermum ecklonis cultivar Julie, not patented. The new Osteospermum was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant within a population of plants of the cultivar Julie in a controlled environment in Gifu, Japan in February, 2003. The selection of this plant was based on its attractive ray floret coloration.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal vegetative cuttings in a controlled environment in Gifu, Japan since April, 2003, has shown that the unique features of this new Osteospermum are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.